Penske Racing sweeps front row

JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer

Saturday

Sep 14, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Penske Racing swept the front row in qualifying for the first race of the Chase, with Joey Logano winning the pole hours after NASCAR placed his team on probation for allegedly cutting a deal with another organization to help him make the championship field.

Logano turned a lap at 189.414 mph around Chicagoland Speedway on Friday to bump teammate and defending NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski. Keselowski did not qualify for the Chase but Logano did make it in at Richmond, where he was aided by at least three other drivers last Saturday night.

It all came out in two separate investigations into the closing laps and carried over into Chicago, where NASCAR summoned Penske Racing and Front Row Motorsports in for a Friday morning meeting to discuss an alleged deal made for David Gilliland to give Logano pivotal track position to make the Chase.

The Penske team denied wrongdoing - radio transmissions couldn't prove they had any involvement in Front Row's bargaining - but NASCAR spent most of the day reviewing the incident.

After booting Martin Truex Jr. from the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field earlier in the week for Ryan Newman because of Michael Waltrip Racing's manipulations at Richmond, there was a chance Logano could be kicked out, too.

Instead, NASCAR took the unprecedented step of adding Jeff Gordon as a 13th driver to the field and placed Penske and Front Row on probation through the end of the year.

Logano, who beat Jimmie Johnson's 2005 track record of 188.146 mph, said he never thought he'd be kicked out of the Chase despite the vitriol he was seeing on social media. - AP

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